Report  submitted  to  the  President  and 
Regents  of  the  University  of  California 
upon  the  condition  of  She  "Bancroft 
Library 


REUVEN  G.  TH WAITES 


Superintendent  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Library 


THE  BANCROFT  LIBRARY 


A  REPORT  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  PRESIDENT  AND 
REGENTS  OP  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
UPON  THE  BANCROFT  LIBRARY 


BY 

% 

REUBEN  G.  TH WAITE S 

SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  WISCONSIN  HISTORICAL  LIBRARY 


BERKELEY,  CALIFORNIA 


NOVEMBER  14,  1005 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/bancroftlibraryrOOthwa 


©*T2!SU 


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REPOST  ON  THE  BANCROFT  LIBRARY 


To  President  and  Honorable  Board  of  Regents  of 
the  University  of  California: — In  accordance  with  your 
invitation,  I  have  just  completed  a  careful  examination  of 
the  H.  H.  Bancroft  Library,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining 
its  condition  and,  so  far  as  may  be,  its  marketable  value, 
and  beg  leave  to  report  as  follows: 

The  collection  is  contained  in  an  isolated  two-story  brick 
building,  apparently  of  slow-burning  construction,  near  the 
corner  of  Valencia  and  Army  streets.  The  building  is  said 
to  be  frequently  aired;  but  I  found  it  extremely  musty — 
«r$nd  while  the  library  is  still  in  good  condition,  another 
^  decade  of  neglect  in  this  environment  will  undoubtedly 
s  work  to  the  irreparable  injury  from  damp  of  very  much 
s  of  its  contents,  particularly  in  newspaper  files,  mounted 
.  |f  manuscripts,  and  volumes  of  pasted  newspaper  scraps,  which 
£  classes  of  matter  are  peculiarly  susceptible  to  the  ravages 
of  mildew  and  insects. 

I  had  read  numerous  published  and  manuscript  descrip- 
o  tions  of  this  library,  particularly  the  accounts  thereof  in 
Hubert  Howe  Bancroft’s  own  works — Essays  and  Miscel¬ 
lany  (chaps,  xv-xviii),  and  Literary  Industries  (particu¬ 
larly  chaps,  viii,  x,  xxi,  xxiii).  These  had  prepared  me  for 
a  considerable  collection;  nevertheless,  I  approached  the 
present  task  of  appraisal  with  the  fear  that,  although  doubt¬ 
less  important,  the  library  had,  in  the  natural  enthusiasm 
of  the  owner,  probably  been  over-estimated  by  him.  But 


15309 


4 


I  arise  from  my  examination  with  the  firm  conviction  that 
Mr.  Bancroft’s  several  statements  have  in  no  sense  been 
exaggerations  of  the  fact.  In  the  main,  his  range  of  collec¬ 
tion  was  the  vast  region  of  the  Pacific  slope,  from  Alaska 
down  through  the  Central  American  States;  but  he  also 
assiduously  collected  material  upon  the  entire  Rocky  Moun¬ 
tain  district — Montana,  Utah,  Wyoming,  Colorado.  Ari¬ 
zona,  New  Mexico,  and  Western  Texas.  There  is  also  much 
material — of  very  great  value,  although  not  so  inclusive — 
upon  Louisiana  under  Spanish  dominion,  and  most  of  the 
islands  of  the  West  Indies:  the  latter  an  interesting  side 
excursion,  of  which  no  account  has  been  taken  in  his  pub¬ 
lished  descriptions  of  the  library. 

I  take  profound  satisfaction  in  reporting  that  the  collec¬ 
tion  is  found  to  be  astonishingly  large  and  complete,  easily 
first  Jn  its  own  field,  and  taking  high  rank  among  the  fa¬ 
mous  general  collections  of  Americana,  such  as  exist  at 
Harvard  University,  the  Boston  Public  Library,  the 
Library  of  Congress,  the  New  York  State  Library,  and 
the  Wisconsin  Historical  Library.  Mr.  Bancroft’s  services 
to  American  historical  scholarship,  in  amassing  this  re¬ 
markable  array  of  manuscript  and  printed  sources,  entitle 
his  name  to  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  those  of  Force, 
Draper,  Sparks,  Prince,  George  Bancroft,  and  other  great 
collectors  of  materials  for  American  history.  You  will,  I 
am  sure,  hardly  expect  me  here  to  enter  into  anything  ap¬ 
proaching  a  detailed  description  of  the  Bancroft  Library — 
such  a  task  would  require  the  dimensions  of  a  bulky  pam¬ 
phlet.  You  have  but  invited  me  to  give  you  an  appraisal, 
and  this  infers  an  account  of  the  property  couched  only  in 
general  terms. 


I.  MANUSCRIPTS. 

When  soliciting  the  purchase  of  the  library  by  the  State 
of  California,  in  1886-87,  Mr.  Bancroft  estimated  that  he 
had  accumulated  1,200  volumes  of  manuscripts.  This  is. 


however,  a  curious  under-estimate;  possibly  he  included 
only  those  that  wTere  bound.  I  think,  however,  that  of  un¬ 
bound  manuscripts  of  importance,  scattered  through  the 
library  in  shoals,  there  are  sufficient  to  make  perhaps  an 
additional  200  or  300  stout  folio  volumes. 

These  manuscripts  are,  as  a  rule,  of  the  first  importance. 
So  wide  is  their  range  that  it  will  be  a  difficult  task  even 
to  classify  them,  and  I  can  here  convey  but  a  suggestion 
as  to  their  character.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  numerous 
manuscript  books,  such  as  missals,  service  books,  and  early 
grammars  and  dictionaries  of  aboriginal  languages.  Many 
of  these  are  valuable  chiefly  as  curiosities — the  sort  of  ma¬ 
terial  suitable  for  a  bibliographical  museum,  which  of  itself 
would  obviously  be  desirable  at  the  University.  Also  val¬ 
uable  for  such  a  museum  are  the  numerous  parchment 
broadsides — papal  bulls  and  rescripts,  governmental  proc¬ 
lamations,  royal  edicts,  land  deeds,  etc.,  many  of  them  bear¬ 
ing  rare  and  interesting  seals.  Such  documents  are  often 
of  much  historical  value,  and  many  could  be  utilized  in 
connection  with  the  study  of  paleography,  a  branch  of 
learning  for  which  we  have  in  our  country  a  relatively 
small  store  of  material,  necessitating  the  treasuring  of  what 
little  we  possess. 

In  manuscript  material  for  direct  original  study  of  the 
particular  field  covered  by  the  Bancroft  histories,  the  collec¬ 
tion  is  surprisingly  large.  Extremely  important  in  this  de¬ 
partment  are  the  archives  of  the  Spanish  missions.  These 
are,  for  the  most  part,  apparently  careful  transcripts  of  the 
original  mission  record  books;  but  there  are  also  many  of 
the  original  records  themselves ; — for  instance,  those  of  the 
old  San  Francisco  mission — and  these  are  supplemented  by 
numerous  letters  and  other  documents.  So  far  as  I  can 
judge,  from  the  amount  of  time  at  my  command,  the  mis¬ 
sion  records  appear  to  be  at  least  fairly  complete.  When 
to  these  manuscripts  are  added  the  vast  mass  of  printed 
ecclesiastical  material,  in  the  Bancroft  collection,  it  is  seen 


6 


that  from  this  library  can  for  the  first  time  be  prepared 
that  great  desideratum,  a  satisfactory  study — historical, 
economic,  and  social — of  the  Franciscan  and  Jesuit  coast 
missions.  Closely  associated  with  the  mission  archives,  for 
purposes  of  research,  are  the  original  presidio  records,  of 
which  there  is  a  large  and  interesting  collection. 

There  is  also  much  manuscript  material  upon  Spanish 
governmental  and  commercial  affairs  in  North  and  Central 
America,  and  relative  to  the  later  Mexican  regime.  Ac¬ 
counts  and  letter-books  of  Russian,  Canadian,  and  Ameri¬ 
can  fur  companies  are  numerous.  We  have  here  consular 
papers,  originals  and  transcripts  of  diaries  of  early  Ameri¬ 
can  trappers,  traders,  overland  pioneers,  and  gold  hunters, 
and  the  log  books  of  early  trading  craft — in  fact,  valuable 
miscellaneous  papers  bearing  upon  every  phase  of  life  in 
the  Rockies  and  upon  the  Coast.  Preeminent  in  this  field, 
are  the  very  remarkable  collections  of  M.  G.  Vallejo  (50 
folio  volumes),  J.  B.  Alvarado,  Thomas  0.  Larkin,  A.  M. 
Osio,  Juan  Bandini,  A.  F.  Coronel,  Pio  Pico,  Manuel  Cas¬ 
tro,  I.  M.  Amador,  and  Benjamin  Hayes — to  mention  but 
a  few  of  those  absorbed  into  the  Bancroft  collection — all 
of  them  incomparable  store-houses  of  contemporary  Mexi¬ 
can  and  American  letters,  accounts,  and  other  documentary 
material,  giving  the  very  heart  of  California  life  during 
the  Americanizing  process.  Obviously  these  will  grow  in 
value  as  the  years  pass. 

Of  great  practical  importance,  also,  are  several  hun¬ 
dreds  of  the  dictated  narratives  of  California  and  other 
Rocky  Mountain  pioneers,  some  of  them  covering  hundreds 
of  foolscap  pages.  The  historical  investigator  soon  learns 
to  view  such  personal  statements  with  becoming  caution,  as 
generally  prepared  in  the  declining  years  of  the  narrators, 
as  more  or  less  colored  by  prejudice,  and  weakened  by 
faulty  perspective.  Nevertheless,  a  fair  conclusion  may 
generally  be  reached  in  the  court  of  history  by  striking  a 
mean  between  the  conflicting  testimony  of  a  cloud  of  wit- 


7 


nesses ;  especially  when,  running  parallel  to  this,  exists  such 
a  mass  of  corrective  contemporary  documents  as  is  con¬ 
tained  in  the  Bancroft  collection.  Most  of  the  actors  in  the 
drama  of  Pacific  Coast  pioneering  have  now  passed  away, 
so  that  these  apparently  careful  records  of  their  own  state¬ 
ments  constitute,  with  all  their  possible  error,  a  really  price¬ 
less  possession  to  the  historians  of  this  district. 

As  incidentally  illustrating  the  wide  grasp  of  Mr.  Ban¬ 
croft’s  energy  as  a  collector,  I  was  interested  in  stumbling 
across  several  large  bundles  of  important  documents  bear¬ 
ing  upon  the  Spanish  dominion  in  Louisiana,  a  field  of 
collection  distinctly  out  of  his  domain.  In  short,  wherever 
one  turns  in  the  library,  manuscripts  of  often  very  consid¬ 
erable  value  appear  in  bound  form,  tied  up  into  bundles, 
or  slipped  into  manila  envelopes,  until  the  searcher  fairly 
gasps  in  astonishment  at  the  enterprise  and  persistence  of 
the  man  who  could  gather  into  his  own  possession  so  com¬ 
prehensive  and  far-reaching  an  accumulation  of  contem¬ 
porary  records. 

These  1,400  or  1,500  volumes  of  manuscripts,  of  which 
about  600  appear  to  bear  strictly  upon  California,  are  in 
fact  priceless.  I  hesitate  to  place  upon  them  a  market 
value.  To  such  an  institution,  however,  as  the  Library  of 
Congress,  which  aims  at  a  general  collection  of  Americana, 
it  is,  I  think,  a  conservative  estimate  to  say  that  they  would 
be  considered  as  worth  at  least  $80,000;  this  would  be  ex¬ 
clusive  of  the  dictated  statements  of  the  pioneers,  which 
might  appear  to  be  of  too  local  a  character  for  an  Eastern 
collection.  But  to  California,  the  natural  home  of  the  Ban¬ 
croft  Library,  the  value  is  obviously  far  greater — if  you 
will,  any  sum  available  to  that  end.  In  my  judgment  it 
would  be  a  serious  blow  to  historical  scholarship  upon  the 
entire  Pacific  Coast,  for  the  State  of  California  to  allow  this 
material  to  go  elsewhere. 

The  Draper  Manuscript  Collection,  in  the  Wisconsin 
Historical  Library,  numbers  but  400  folio  volumes,  cover- 


8 


ing  the  origin  of  trans-Alleghaney  settlement,  a  field  geo¬ 
graphically  much  more  restricted  than  that  represented  in 
the  Bancroft  collection.  Yet  it  annually  attracts  large 
numbers  of  graduate  students  in  history,  economics,  and 
social  science,  involves  a  very  considerable  daily  corre¬ 
spondence  with  genealogical  investigators  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  and  has  added  immensely  to  the  general  repu¬ 
tation  of  the  library.  Wisconsin  could  probably  not  be  in¬ 
duced  even  to  estimate  the  marketable  value  of  this  unique 
collection,  even  were  its  sale  possible ;  but  rather  than  lose 
it,  we  should  be  willing  to  sacrifice  any  sum  whatever,  that 
the  Wisconsin  legislature  might  be  induced  to  appropriate. 
From  this  statement,  it  will  be  seen  that  my  estimate  of  the 
cash  value  of  the  Bancroft  collection  is  conservative. 

II.  GENERAL  PRINTED  SOURCES. 

Mr.  Bancroft  fortified  his  collection  with  a  very  consid¬ 
erable  array  of  the  great  printed  sources  more  or  less  affect¬ 
ing  his  wide  geographical  field.  For  studying  the  Old 
World  roots  of  Spanish- American  affairs,  the  library  con¬ 
tains  such  important  and  expensive  sets  as  are  exampled 
by  the  Coleccion  de  los  decretos  y  ordenes,  the  Coleccion  de 
Documentos  Ineditos,  the  Ueales  Ordenes,  the  works  of  Men¬ 
doza,  Las  Siete  Partidas,  and  the  Biarios  of  the  Cortes. 
These  volumes  are  scattered  through  the  library,  but  I  be¬ 
lieve  the  stretches  to  be  complete.  The  sets  of  United  States 
government  documents  (chiefly  in  sheep  bindings),  Parly 
Laws ,  Congressional  Globe,  and  American  State  Poppers, 
apparently  are  complete  between  1805  and  1895.  When 
it  is  recollected  that  the  University  of  California’s  set  of 
these  now  highly  prized  publications  is  weak,  and  that  Mr. 
Bancroft’s  constitute,  I  should  judge,  among  the  best  half 
dozen  documentary  collections  in  the  country,  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  utilizing  his  volumes  for  filling  gaps  in  the  General 
Library  will  be  appreciated. 


9 


I  should  say  that  the  collection  of  leading  Mexican  offi¬ 
cial  and  historical  sets  is  probably  complete — it  certainly 
is  voluminous.  His  sets  of  laws,  journals,  debates,  trans¬ 
actions  of  learned  societies,  etc.,  of  Central  America  and 
the  various  American  states  and  Canadian  provinces  within 
his  field  of  collection,  are  generally  in  excellent  condition; 
and  there  is  also  considerable  material  of  this  character 
bearing  upon  the  West  Indies  and  Brazil. 

Early  voyages  are  prominent  features  of  the  Bancroft 
library.  I  find  upon  its  shelves  the  numerous  and  costly 
sets  of  most  of  the  great  editors  and  voyagers :  Malte-Brun, 
Hakluyt,  Pinkerton,  Saint-Martin,  Pieter  Yander  Aa,  Kru- 
senstern,  Wilkes,  Burney,  Richarderie,  La  Harpe,  Langs- 
dorff,  Lisiansky,  Kotzebue,  Cook,  Roquefeuil,  Perit-Thouars, 
Beechy,  Vancouver,  La  Perouse,  Meares,  etc. ;  and  such 
other  famous  collections  as  the  Annales  des  Voyages  and 
Lettres  Edifiantes.  In  short,  this  collection  of  voyages — 
works  always  eagerly  sought  by  students  of  history — is 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  and  most  valuable  now  extant 
in  America.  It  was  interesting,  for  instance,  to  find  among 
his  rarities  the  first  (1625)  edition  of  Purchas ,  his  Pilgrimes, 
now  worth  several  hundred  dollars. 

The  maps,  atlases,  and  cosmographies  are  especially  nu¬ 
merous.  Not  only  does  one  discover  here  practically  all  of 
the  celebrated  geographies  of  the  seventeenth  and  eight¬ 
eenth  centuries,  but  there  is  a  collection  of  some  1,200  loose 
maps,  chiefly  bearing  upon  the  Pacific  Coast  of  America 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  that  is  surprisingly  rich  in  rarities. 
In  addition  to  these  are  the  French  and  British  admiralty 
charts,  and  the  United  States  and  Russian  coast  charts 
within  the  same  field;  also  about  50  roller  maps — state, 
county,  and  local — some  of  them  early  and  rare. 

The  collection  of  general  printed  sources,  as  above  out¬ 
lined,  some  of  which  are  available  for  the  University’s  Gen¬ 
eral  Library,  as  distinct  from  the  Bancroft  Library,  is  prob¬ 
ably  worth  at  least  $25,000.  Portions  thereof  could  not  now 
be  bought  in  open  market  at  any  price. 


10 


III.  NEWSPAPER  FILES,  PERIODICALS,  TRANSACTIONS, 
AND  SCRAP  BOOKS. 

Newspaper  files  are  among  the  most  valuable  sources  for 
the  economic,  social,  and  political  phases  of  history.  The 
largest  collections  now  extant  in  America,  are  those  of  the 
Library  of  Congress  and  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Library 
—the  latter  containing  15,000  bound  volumes,  and  the  for¬ 
mer  possibly  a  few  more.  The  Bancroft  Library  embraces 
the  equivalent  of  something  over  5,000  volumes,  of  which 
500  or  600  are  already  bound,  the  others  being  tied  up  in 
bundles  upon  the  shelves.  The  majority  of  these  journals 
range  from  about  1868  to  1886 ;  but  piled  in  an  unassorted 
heap  upon  the  first  floor,  are  about  three  cords  of  miscel¬ 
laneous  Pacific  Coast  and  Rocky  Mountain  papers,  ranging 
from  January  1,  1887,  to  about  1895. 

The  California  branch  of  the  collection  includes  the 
earliest  as  well  as  the  most  important  files ;  among  them  the 
California  Star  '  (1847),  Alta  Californian  (1849-1885), 
Sacramento  Daily  Union  (75  volumes,  1856-1871),  San 
Francisco  Bulletin  (vol.  I,  no.  1,  Oct.  8,  1865  through 
1885),  San  Francisco  Call  (1863-1884),  Californian  (1847- 
1848),  California  Farmer  (1860-1881),  Advocate  (1864- 
1880),  and  Chronicle  (1868-1885).  There  are  also  upon 
the  shelves  such  files  as  those  of  the  Salt  Lake  Tribune 
(1871-1879)  and  Telegraph  (1868)  ;  Carson  City  Nevada 
Tribune  (1873-1880)  ;  Denver  Tribune,  Miners’  Gazette, 
Rocky  Mountain  News,  Rocky  Mountain  Herald  and  Times, 
and  notable  journals  in  Alaska,  Oregon,  Washington,  Idaho, 
Montana,  Nevada,  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Mexico. 

The  sets  of  periodical  literature  are  numerous  and  im¬ 
portant.  Not  only  do  we  here  find  many  of  the  standard 
popular  and  specialized  sets,  all  of  them  valuable  in  filling 
gaps  in  the  General  Library,  but  there  are  a  large  collection 
of  costly  Mexican  and  Spanish  sets,  seldom  seen  in  the 
United  States.  Among  the  550  Mexican  volumes  of  this 
character — many  of  them  of  an  official  or  semi-official  char¬ 
acter,  and  thus  especially  valuable  as  sources— may  be  cited 


11 


the  Diario  de  Avisos,  Le  Vox  de  Mexico,  El  Universal,  El 
Const it ucional,  El  Mansage,  El  Pajaro  Verde,  El  Eco  Na¬ 
tional,  Diaro  Oftcial,  and  El  Monitor  Republicano. 

In  this  connection  may  be  mentioned  many  valuable 
sets  of  transactions  of  learned  societies  and  institutions  in 
North  and  Central  America,  especially  those  containing 
monographs  bearing  upon  the  history,  resources,  and  com¬ 
merce  of  the  Pacific  Slope. 

An  interesting  and  eminently  practical  feature  of  the 
Bancroft  Library  is  the  collection  of  classified  newspaper 
and  magazine  scraps  touching  upon  its  particular  field. 
Some  300  volumes,  prominent  among  them  the  Hayes  Col¬ 
lection,  are  either  bound  or  mounted  on  manila  sheets  ready 
for  binding;  and  there  are  also  large  masses  of  similar 
scraps  in  loose  form,  thrust  into  manila  envelopes.  These 
scraps  are  an  asset  of  considerable  practical  value  to  schol¬ 
ars,  and  in  time  should  be  carefully  indexed  for  ready 
reference. 

I  estimate  the  marketable  value  of  the  newspapers,  pe¬ 
riodicals,  transactions,  and  scrap  books  of  classified  printed 
matter,  at  $50,000. 

IV.  EARLY  IMPRINTS,  AND  OTHER  RARE  BOOKS. 

It  is  difficult  to  differentiate  these  from  other  classes  in 
the  library.  Mr.  Bancroft  has  collected  into  one  tier  of 
shelves  some  400  volumes  under  the  general  label,  ‘‘Bare 
Books.  ’  ’  But  other  books,  pamphlets,  and  broadsides,  prop¬ 
erly  coming  under  this  head,  are,  under  his  alphabetical 
arrangement  by  authors,  scattered  throughout  the  library. 
However,  considering  only  this  special  collection  of  rarities, 
culled  by  himself,  we  find  them  consisting  chiefly  of  biblio¬ 
graphical  curiosities,  specimens  of  early  Pacific  Coast  and 
Spanish- American  printing,  and  material  for  the  study  of 
early  linguistics.  I  have  no  reason  whatever  to  doubt  his 
published  statement  (see  Literary  Industries,  p.  112),  that 
these  selected  examples  cost  him  from  $35  to  $800  each— a 


12 


value  surely  much  enhanced  since  he  acquired  them.  It 
would,  I  am  sure,  not  be  unfair  to  place  upon  them — al¬ 
though  many  of  these  examples  would  now  be  considered 
priceless  by  scholars — an  average  trade  value  of  $50  each, 
a  total  of  $20,000. 

V.  MATERIAL  IN  SPECIAL  FIELDS  OF  STUDY. 

This  extraordinary  collection  is  of  course  richest  in 
manuscripts  and  in  local  history  material — by  local  history, 
meaning  the  annals  of  the  several  states  and  territories 
embraced  in  the  great  region  which  he  sought  to  cover. 
Nevertheless  there  is  here  a  vast  mass  of  data  available  for 
several  other  fields  of  human  study,  more  or  less  related 
to  history.  In  the  department  of  American  ethnology,  par¬ 
ticularly  the  aborigines  of  the  trans-Missouri,  the  Pacific 
States,  Alaska,  Mexico,  and  the  Central  American  States, 
the  opening  of  this  collection  to  general  research  will  be 
an  incalculable  boon,  for  there  is  much  therein  that  has 
not  heretofore  been  available.  The  study  of  American  abo¬ 
riginal  linguistics  is  certain,  from  the  unlocking  of  this 
long-closed  storehouse,  to  receive  a  new  impetus.  The  col¬ 
lection  will  prove  a  revelation  to  scholars  who  wish  to  enter 
this  broad  field,  for  the  mass  of  manuscript  and  printed 
material  thereon  is  simply  astonishing.  We  have  here,  also, 
opportunities  for  original  research  along  many  other  lines 
— exploration,  naval  and  military  affairs,  colonization,  mis¬ 
sions  and  general  ecclesiastical  interests,  political  develop¬ 
ment,  the  first  fruits  of  scientific  inquiry,  the  beginnings 
of  literature  and  other  arts :  in  short,  the  growth  of  culture 
in  Western  North  America  and  along  the  shores  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Carribean  Sea,  during  four  cen¬ 
turies  of  the  civilizing  process. 

This  special  material,  exclusive  of  that  previously  enu¬ 
merated,  I  should  consider  worth  in  the  book  markets  of  the 
world,  say  $20,000. 


13 


VI.  CALIFORNIA  PRINTED  MATERIAL. 

Much  of  Mr.  Bancroft’s  valuable  material  for  the  his¬ 
tory  of  California  has  already  been  alluded  to  under  pre¬ 
vious  classes,  such  as  the  priceless  records  of  the  Spanish 
missions  and  presidios;  the  mammoth  collections  made  by 
Vallejo,  Larkin,  Alvarado,  Hayes,  and  others;  files  of  the 
best  and  now  excessively  rare  California  newspapers  and 
magazines ;  the  wealth  of  newspaper  scrap  books ;  and,  bib- 
liographically  curious,  most  of  the  first  impressions  from 
the  earliest  California  presses  at  Monterey  and  elsewhere. 
There  have  also  been  previously  touched  upon  the  several 
hundreds  of  dictated  narratives  of  leading  California  pio¬ 
neers — of  great  practical  service,  locally,  but  which  I  have 
preferred  not  to  appraise  as  a  cash  asset,  for  the  reason 
that  they  probably  have  small  marketable  value  outside  of 
the  state. 

In  addition  to  this  great  mass  of  manuscript  and  printed 
California  sources,  there  is  a  surprisingly  complete  collec¬ 
tion  of  printed  books  and  pamphlets  relative  to  the  state — 
journals  and  debates  of  constitutional  conventions  and 
legislatures,  state  and  local  public  documents  of  every  sort, 
books  and  pamphlets  printed  in  California,  travels  and  de¬ 
scriptions,  directories,  publications  of  educational  and  re¬ 
ligious  institutions  and  learned  societies,  a  shoal  of  state 
and  local  histories,  statistical  data  in  a  hundred  forms,  mis¬ 
cellaneous  leaflets  innumerable,  portraits  of  pioneers — in 
brief,  practically  everything  printed  in  or  about  the  com¬ 
monwealth,  local  or  general.  All  of  which  is  probably  com¬ 
plete  up  to  1887,  and  fairly  representative  of  later  publica¬ 
tions  to  1895. 

This  comprehensive  collection  is  of  itself  worth  $50,000 
at  a  low  estimate ;  for  probably  no  state  in  the  Union,  out¬ 
side  of  Massachusetts  and  Wisconsin,  has  been  so  carefully 
gleaned  for  historical  purposes.  The  possession  of  this 
California  material  alone,  places  the  Bancroft  Library  on 
a  par,  from  the  local  standpoint,  with  the  best  state  histor¬ 
ical  collections  extant. 


14 


VII.  OTHER  LOCAL  HISTORY  MATERIAL. 

The  Bancroft  Library  is  of  course  not  as  rich  for  any 
of  the  other  states  and  countries  in  its  special  field,  as  for 
California ;  local  opportunities  for  collection  were  obviously 
greater  here.  Nevertheless,  so  wide  was  the  theatre  of  its 
owner’s  activities,  that  the  total  mass  of  local  history  mate¬ 
rial  outside  of  California — more  particularly  for  Mexico 
and  the  Western  American  states,  with  rather  surprising 
excursions  into  the  West  Indies — is  quite  remarkable. 

The  Mexican  material  of  this  character  is  probably  as 
comprehensive  as  could  be  found  on  the  shelves  of  any  one 
library  in  that  country — possibly  it  is  even  more  numerous. 
It  appears  to  include  all  of  the  standard  histories  and 
chronicles  like  those  of  Zamacois,  Orozco  y  Berra,  Alarnan, 
and  Bustamane ;  and  such  early  chronicles  as  Bernal  Diaz, 
Cavo,  Clavigero,  Cortes,  Herrara,  Las  Casas,  De  Laet,  Gar- 
cilasso  de  la  Vega,  Sortozano,  and  Solis.  A  collection  of 
over  200  bound  volumes  of  rare  and  often  extremely  val¬ 
uable  pamphlets  is  noticeable  as  one  feature  of  the  Mexican 
department. 

In  general,  these  local  history  collections  are  similar  in 
scope  and  desirability  to  that  already  described  under  Cali¬ 
fornia,  and  the  total  bulk  is  naturally  much  greater.  I 
estimate  its  market  value  at  $55,000. 


VIII.  CATALOGUES  AND  INDICES. 

Highly  desirable  assets  in  connection  with  the  Bancroft 
Library  are  the  several  manuscript  catalogues  of  and  in¬ 
dices  to  the  collection.  To  facilitate  the  preparation  of 
the  Bancroft  histories,  its  owner  had  prepared  by  his  as¬ 
sistants  several  ready-reference  lists  of  this  character.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  quarter  of  a  century  occupied  in  making  and  using 
this  collection,  these  labor-saving  devices  took  on  different 
forms,  the  fruits  of  accumulating  experiences: 


15 


(а)  A  card  catalogue  of  books,  pamphlets,  and  news¬ 
paper  files,  is  contained  in  a  cupboard  on  the  second  floor. 
The  size  of  these  cards  is  not  that  now  used  by  librarians, 
and  the  terminology  is  somewhat  out  of  date;  but  for  the 
time  being,  until  a  catalogue  can  be  prepared  along  modern 
lines,  this  will  be  found  fairly  useful  in  the  administration 
of  the  collection. 

(б)  Two  large  blank-books,  ledger  size,  contain  a  one- 
line  finding-list  of  the  library — Yol.  I  being  an  alphabet¬ 
ical  arrangement  by  authors,  up  to  about  1880;  Yol.  II,  a 
supplemental  list  of  like  character,  up  to  about  1882. 

(c)  In  a  similar  blank-book  is  a  list  of  the  newspaper 
files,  with  (in  most  cases)  an  apparently  careful  enumera¬ 
tion  of  the  actual  dates  of  the  individual  issues  in  each  set. 
The  entries  are  chiefly  in  lead  pencil,  and  the  arrangement 
appears  to  be  irregular;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  use,  and 
the  list  will  be  found  serviceable  in  checking  up  the  papers 
preparatory  to  binding  and  scientifically  cataloguing. 

(d)  Two  large  cupboards  on  the  first  floor  are  filled 
with  a  classified  card  index,  under  brief  subject  headings, 
to  the  principal  contents  of  the  books  and  pamphlets  in 
the  collection.  This  work  appears  to  have  been  done  with 
care  and  judgment.  The  cards  approximate  the  present 
library  standard ;  they  can  easily  be  arranged  vertically  in 
trays,  and  at  once  be  made  available  to  students.  The 
preparation  of  this  index  has  undoubtedly  cost  a  large  sum 
of  money,  and  will  prove  an  important  time-saving  inven¬ 
tion  to  those  using  the  library. 

(e)  Three  large  ledger  volumes  are  filled  with  manu¬ 
script  notes  upon  the  cartography  of  Mexico  and  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  generally.  The  method  was  curiously  labor¬ 
ious — that  of  alphabetically  recording  every  geographical 
name  found  on  each  of  the  old  maps,  and  tracing  changes 
in  spelling,  location,  etc.  For  purposes  of  detailed  carto¬ 
graphical  study,  of  the  analytic  order,  these  painstaking 
notes  are  surely  of  considerable  practical  value. 


16 


(/)  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Bancroft  Library  staff  to 
prepare  notes — sometimes  in  outline,  but  often  in  detail — 
upon  all  imaginable  data  that  might  possibly  be  needed  in 
the  histories  they  were  writing.  Generally  these  were  upon 
strips  of  foolscap  of  varying  length.  After  being  used  by 
the  compilers  of  the  books,  this  skeleton  material  was  either 
mounted  on  manila  sheets  ready  for  binding,  or  stowed 
away  in  manila  envelopes,  upon  which  were  penciled  memo¬ 
randa  as  to  the  contents,  the  envelopes  being  also  num¬ 
bered  to  accord  with  their  respective  subject  cards  in  the 
index  described  above,  under  (d).  These  envelopes  are  to 
be  found  in  all  portions  of  the  library.  They  should  be 
carefully  examined,  and  the  slips  preserved  and  systemat¬ 
ically  arranged  and  perhaps  mounted;  it  seems  likely  that 
in  time  they  will  be  considered  useful  to  many. 

( g )  Another  form  of  rough  note-making  was  the  mount¬ 
ing  of  newspaper  and  magazine  scraps  upon  manila  sheets. 
Those  thought  by  Mr.  Bancroft  to  be  worth  binding  have 
already  been  described  under  Newspaper  Scrap-Books ; 
there  is  still  a  considerable  number  stowed  in  manila  en¬ 
velopes,  together  with  the  foolscap  notes  already  described 
under  (/).  All  should  be  preserved,  and  eventually  ar¬ 
ranged  in  better  condition. 

Despite  the  great  cost  and  considerable  practical  value 
of  these  several  manuscript  catalogues  and  indices,  in  a 
working  library  of  this  character,  they  obviously  are  of 
little  use  save  to  the  purchaser  of  the  entire  Bancroft  col¬ 
lection,  hence  would  bring  small  returns  at  any  sale  where¬ 
at  the  library  were  sold  piecemeal.  I  have,  therefore, 
thought  it  best  not  even  to  attempt  to  appraise  them  for 
the  present  purpose;  it  is  sufficient  if  we  consider  them 
merely  as  desirable  makeweights. 

NUMERICAL  STRENGTH. 

Mr.  Bancroft’s  own  estimate  of  the  size  of  his  Library, 
fifteen  years  ago  (Ms.  letter  to  A.  R.  Spofford,  October  21, 
1890),  was  as  follows: 


17 


Printed  books  and  pamphlets .  40,000 

Volumes  of  newspapers  .  4,000 

Maps,  atlases,  engravings,  etc .  2,000 

Original  manuscripts  .  3,700 

Copied  manuscripts  .  300 


50,000 


As  he  collected  in  a  desultory  manner  for  about  five 
years  after  that  date,  his  printed  books  and  pamphlets  now 
probably  number  43,000.  His  newspaper  volumes  (bound 
and  unbound)  will,  I  think,  number  somewhat  over  5,000. 
The  cartographical  estimate  is  substantially  correct.  But 
his  estimate  of  the  manuscripts  perplexes  me;  for  besides 
the  very  large  collection  of  important  unbound  papers,  we 
have  some  1,200  bound  volumes  (generally  stout  folios), 
and  these  must  contain  far  more  than  an  average  of  100 
manuscripts  each — I  should  say  that  there  must  be  fully 
125,000  of  what  may  legitimately  be  styled  manuscripts. 

DUPLICATES. 

It  is  quite  impossible  at  the  present  juncture,  prior  to 
a  detailed  checking  up,  to  arrive  at  any  close  estimate  of 
the  duplicates.  Mr.  Bancroft  often  bought  large  collec¬ 
tions  en  bloc ,  besides  purchasing  freely  at  auctions  from 
such  great  Spanish- American  lots  as  the  Andrade-Maxi- 
milian  collection  (Leipsic,  1869),  the  famous  London  sale 
of  the  same  year,  the  E.  G.  Squier  collection  (1876),  the 
Caleb  Cushing  sale  (1879),  and  the  Ramirez  sale  (London, 
1880).  During  the  most  active  period  of  his  purchases 
(1868-1882),  he  necessarily  bought  and  otherwise  accumu¬ 
lated  duplicates,  and  these  he  several  times  weeded  from 
his  shelves.  Some  of  the  duplicates  he  placed  aside,  and 
marked  as  such ;  others,  I  have  found  still  upon  the  shelves. 
Again,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  University  General 
Library  already  possesses,  especially  of  modern  Califor- 
niana,  many  of  the  more  easily  obtainable  volumes  in  the 
Bancroft  Library. 


18 


The  final  checking  is  sure  to  reveal  a  considerable  dupli¬ 
cate  collection,  among  them  some  very  great  rarities.  These 
will  be  of  a  character  readily  salable  to  libraries  and  other 
collectors  of  Americana.  It  is,  in  my  judgment,  a  safe 
estimate  to  value  them  at  $15,000 — provided  care  is  used, 
and  time  allowed,  in  disposing  of  them.  Thrown  into  the 
auction  room,  or  sold  en  bloc  to  dealers,  they  probably 
would  not  net  more  than  half  that  sum.  Perhaps  I  may 
be  permitted,  out  of  my  own  experience,  to  make  the  sug¬ 
gestion  that  the  library  could  most  profitably  utilize  these 
duplicates  in  effecting  exchanges  with  other  libraries,  along 
the  line  of  the  Bancroft  collection.  Further,  it  will  doubt¬ 
less  be  found  desirable,  in  the  administration  of  the  latter, 
to  preserve  therein  many  volumes  duplicated  in  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Library. 

RECAPITULATION  OF  APPRAISAL. 

I  Manuscripts  (exclusive  of  dictated  narratives,  unap¬ 
praised)  .  $80,000 

II  General  Printed  Sources  .  25,000 

III  Newspaper  files,  periodicals,  transactions,  and  news¬ 

paper  scrap-books  .  50,000 

IV  Early  imprints  and  rare  books .  20,000 

V  Material  in  special  fields  of  study  (not  local  history)  .  .  20,000 

VI  California  material  .  50,000 

VII  Other  local  history  material  .  55,000 

Catalogues  and  indices  . Unappraised 

$300,000 

Duplicates  available  for  sale  or  exchange,  and  to  be  consid¬ 
ered  an  offset .  $15,000 

If,  as  I  am  informed,  Mr.  Bancroft’s  estimate  still  re¬ 
mains  at  $250,000,  the  same  as  in  1887,  I  consider  it  a 
moderate  one  for  the  present  day;  in  all  probability,  it  is 
based  upon  his  knowledge  of  what  the  material  cost  him. 
But  Americana  is  advancing  rapidly  in  value;  prices  ob¬ 
tainable  in  1887  might  in  many  cases  be  doubled  in  1905. 
And  if,  as  I  am  still  further  informed,  Mr.  Bancroft  now 


19 


offers  to  donate  to  the  University  the  difference  between 
his  estimate  of  value  ($250,000),  and  his  asking  price 
($150,000),  I  am  clearly  of  the  opinion  that  the  Bancroft 
Library  is  a  bargain  which,  in  the  interest  of  Pacific  Coast 
scholarship,  should  be  taken  advantage  of. 

SUGGESTIONS. 

Assuming  that  the  University  will  acquire  the  Bancroft 
Library,  I  trust  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  close  with  a 
few  suggestions  relative  to  the  future  of  the  collection. 

A  great  library  of  this  highly  specialized  character 
should,  I  think,  be  separately  administered,  as  is  the  Presi¬ 
dent  White  Library  at  Cornell.  It  is  going  to  take  time, 
patience,  and  much  skill  to  get  this  vast  mass  of  material 
into  good  working  order,  available  for  the  specialists  who 
no  doubt  will  soon  wish  to  examine  it.  Library  workers 
who  are  especially  trained  to  the  administration  of  maps, 
manuscripts,  and  other  historical  and  economic  sources, 
should  if  possible  at  once  be  placed  in  charge.  Such  a 
collection  could  not,  in  my  judgment,  attain  its  highest 
measure  of  usefulness  in  the  hands  of  any  not  qualified  in 
this  department. 

The  Bancroft  Library  will  at  once  attract  to  the  Uni¬ 
versity  a  body  of  graduate  students  in  American  and  Span- 
ish-American  history  and  allied  studies,  who  are  to  find 
here  a  practically  unique  collection  of  material  of  the  high¬ 
est  order  of  excellence.  Facilities  for  this  sort  of  graduate 
work  will  be  unsurpassed  elsewhere  in  the  United  States. 
It  would  be  wise,  not  only  to  keep  the  collection  well  abreast 
of  the  times,  along  its  present  lines,  but,  as  means  and  op¬ 
portunity  permit,  to  extend  its  scope,  looking  towards  the 
eventual  accumulation  at  Berkeley  of  a  great  storehouse 
of  material  for  all  of  Spanish  America,  thus  making  this 
the  natural  centre  of  that  vast  and  fruitful  field  of  study, 
which  as  yet  remains  practically  untilled. 


20 


The  Bancroft  Library  may,  under  proper  administra¬ 
tion,  at  once  enter  the  field  of  historical  publication,  with 
results  highly  creditable  to  the  University.  In  its  great 
manuscript  stores  are  documents  that  should,  as  speedily 
as  possible,  be  given  to  the  world.  In  the  mission  and  pre¬ 
sidio  archives  alone,  there  is  abundant  material  for  a  high 
grade  of  editorial  work;  these  could  be  followed  by  the 
Vallejo,  Larkin,  and  other  collections  of  papers,  bearing 
upon  every  phase  of  Pacific  Coast  life — Spanish,  Russian, 
and  American.  The  opportunity  for  scholarly  work  in  this 
direction  is,  both  in  freshness  and  breadth,  quite  unex¬ 
ampled  elsewhere  in  America. 

When  asked  to  undertake  this  appraisal,  I  at  once  in¬ 
vited  the  expert  cooperation  of  Mr.  Frederick  J.  Teggart, 
Librarian  of  the  Mechanics’  Institute,  and  a  member  of 
the  University  Extension  staff.  Mr.  Teggart ’s  critical 
knowledge  of  early  Californiana  has  been  of  the  greatest 
value;  I  have  throughout  had  his  constant  daily  assistance 
in  the  difficult  and  somewhat  strenuous  work  of  examining 
the  collection.  I  have  also  had  welcome  assistance  from 
Mr.  D.  E.  Smith,  likewise  of  the  University  Extension  staff. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

Reuben  G.  Thwaites. 


Faculty  Club, 

Berkeley,  October  14,  1905. 


